Whipstock assemblies have been lowered into well bores for over 100 years to conduct directional or sidetrack drilling. In many applications, a whipstock assembly is lowered into the well on a tubular string, including a coiled tubing string, but in other applications the whipstock is lowered into the well by a wireline or an electric line. In either event, it is not a simple task to controllably rotate the whipstock in the well so that the whipstock face is at a selected azimuth for a desired directional drilling operation, and the consequences of the whipstock being improperly oriented when starting the directional drilling operation may be very costly.
One common technique for orienting a whipstock in the well utilizes a counterweight. A counterweight, like a clock pendulum, seeks its lowest point. A whipstock with a counterweight acts like a pendulum, trying to orient the whipstock face to the high side. Selectively orienting the whipstock by use of a counterweight to any desired orientation when in an inclined portion of the borehole, despite the whipstock's natural tendency, is similar to selectively orienting a clock pendulum by attaching to it a second, heavier clock pendulum at a proper relative orientation with a common pivot point. This technique for selectively orienting a whipstock face in a well has been used for decades, in spite of the inherent disadvantages in both the cost and the axial length required to ensure that the counterweight has sufficient capability to orient the whipstock face to the desired orientation in the well.
The disadvantages of the prior art are overcome by the present invention, and an improved whipstock assembly and method for orienting whipstock assembly in a well are hereinafter disclosed.